Past Issues
Mat, 2005
Keep The Good Ones
Employee Retention Techniques
April, 2005
What We Measure Part III
Why we measure Sociability.
March, 2005
What We Measure Part II
Some perspective on Readjustment.
February, 2005
Are You Being Served?
Profiling in the Restaurant and Hospitality Industry.
What We Measure Part I
A deeper understanding of Ascendency.
Motivating Termites
Selecting the most motivational rewards for job performance.
We Don't Care What Your Think
Because We Measure Behavior Instead.
Of Course It's Legal
To Use Personality Profiling in Hiring.
Do Unto Others (Or Not)
Good Advice for Sales People.
The Paul Principle
Give employees what they need to succeed.
After I'm Gone ...
Using Profiling to sell or buy a business successfully.
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The MRA Team Spirit Newsletter - March, 2005
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What We Measure Part II: Readjustment
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By John Loven
President
MRA Team Spirit
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MRA Team Spirit Profiling provides you with a methodology and a vocabulary
to get to the root of avoidable friction between workers, netting you more
productivity and better employee retention.
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The Name Game
Imagine getting a call on your cell phone from an employee who yells "I can't see!
I can't see!" Would you yell back "Stop not seeing!"
No, you wouldn't. You'd know that "I can't see" is not a useful name for the problem.
It implies no solutions. You'd know that important questions need to be asked.
"Is there something wrong with your eyes, or is there no light?
"There's no light."
Keep going …
"Are the lights switched off or is all the power off"
"All the power went out."
Keep going …
"Is the power out to the neighborhood, or just your office?"
"Just my office and the lunch room. They're on the same breaker in the basement."
Bingo. The name of the problem is "The breaker in the basement blew."
And the name of the problem implies the solution: The solution is "Switch some
lights and equipment off, then reset the breaker." Very often, problem solving
consists of finding a name for the problem which contains the solution.
Now think about employee relations. Imagine that Bill, one of your employees,
says "Alice is being reckless." And, later on, Alice says "Bill is
slowing me down"
What is the name of the problem? Do you call the accused and say "Stop
being reckless" or "speed up?" That's just like yelling "Stop
not seeing!" You need a workable name for the problem that implies a solution.
What if you had a dependable method for determining a useful name for interpersonal
friction in the workplace? MRA Team Spirit Profiling provides you with a methodology
and a vocabulary to get to the root of avoidable friction between workers, netting
you more productivity and better employee retention.
The Readjustment Thing
One of the four key behavioral traits measured by MRA Team Spirit Profiling
is called "Readjustment". This trait has to do with the need for outside
validation in decision making. People with a high Readjustment ranking are very
likely to check their perceptions and decisions with an expert source before
proceeding. This source of validation might be a procedures manual, a peer or
the manager.
People with a low R ranking, on the other hand, are inclined to use their
own judgment. Based on their own understanding of the goals and the situation
they are unlikely to cross-check their decisions before proceeding.
If you have profiled your people and are aware of dramatically high R and
low R individuals then you have the tools to get beyond Bill saying that Alice
is being reckless or Alice saying that Bill is slowing her down. Imagine that
Alice and Bill are assigned to buy new laptops for the sales team. There are a
lot of considerations: Cost, durability, features, and financing. They set to work.
If Alice is a low Readjustment person, she looks at each situation, examines
the pros and cons of various available actions - without necessarily sharing
that mental discussion and analysis with anyone else. Then, trusting her own
judgment, she makes a decision.
Bill might be a high R person. He gathers all the relevant information and
then looks for websites and magazine articles by reputable writers to stack up
as evidence for one or another choice. He defers action until he has conducted
discussions in which he outlines his best options and gets approval from someone
with authority. Then Bill will act.
Getting Readjusted
Here's fertile ground for workplace friction. Notice that
- Neither wants the other to fail
- Neither wants the project to fail
- Both are committed do doing their jobs well
The problem began as "Alice is being reckless" and "Bill is
slowing me down". Worse yet, if the problem is not addressed, the story
can easily become "Alice wants me to look bad" and "Bill doesn't
care how the project works out."
What is the most useful name for problem Alice and Bill have? Try "Alice, as a
Low R person, needs support in sharing her reasoning and getting buy-in from others.
Bill needs support in decision making and balancing caution against the schedule
pressure." These are things you, as a manager, can provide.
If Bill and Alice are aware of their profiles they can support each other,
without rancor. For Bill, "Alice is being reckless" becomes "I've
got to ask Alice what her thinking is." For Alice "Bill is slowing me
down" becomes "I've got to tell Bill that he has been very diligent, but
it's time to act."
An MRA Team Spirit profile includes measurement of three major behavioral
traits in addition to Readjustment, plus other key abilities. The story of Bill
and Alice shows how you can use these measurements to defuse a lot of unnecessary
friction in your work environment and stimulate honest dialog about working for
productively together.
A front-desk administrator at a pediatric practice said "Once I understood
MRA profiles, I stopped making up stories about why people do things. When there's
a question about a patient, some individuals will start with 'How is she?', some
will start with 'Where's the file?' and some with 'What does the doctor say?'
These are natural differences in approach rooted in the behavioral traits that
MRA measures. Once I understood that the same people would usually be coming
from the same point of view, which was honestly their way of doing the best job,
the whole process got easier."
Get profiled yourself at no charge and see how this valuable tool can improve your
productivity and employee retention.
Questions or Comments? Let Me Know.
Copyright © 2005 John Loven
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